BBC ON THIS DAY | 27 | 1979: IRA bomb kills Lord Mountbatten About This Site | Text Only 1979: IRA bomb kills Lord Mountbatten The Queen's cousin, Lord Louis Mountbatten, has been killed by a bomb blast on his boat in Ireland. One of the earl's twin grandsons, Nicholas, 14, and Paul Maxwell, 15, a local employed as a boat boy, also died in the explosion. The attack was followed only hours later by the massacre of 18 soldiers, killed in two booby-trap bomb explosions near Warrenpoint close to the border with the Irish Republic. The IRA has already admitted carrying out the attack on Lord Mountbatten. A statement from the organisation said: "This operation is one of the discriminate ways we can bring to the attention of the English people the continuing occupation of our country." Lord Mountbatten, aged 79, and his family had traditionally spent their summer holiday at their castle in County Sligo, north west of Ireland. They were aboard his boat, Shadow V, which had just set off from the fishing village of Mullaghmore, when the bomb detonated around 1130 BST.

A witness said the blast blew the boat "to smithereens" and hurled all seven occupants into the water. Nearby fishermen raced to the rescue and pulled Lord Mountbatten out of the water. Security arrangements Killer of Lord Mountbatten enjoys freedom, 30 years on from IRA murder - Telegraph Law and Order Killer of Lord Mountbatten enjoys freedom, 30 years on from IRA murder Thomas McMahon, the only person convicted for the murder of Lord Mountbatten, is enjoying his freedom as the relatives of his victims continue to suffer. Earl Mountbatten of Burma, the last Viceroy of the British Indian Empire, was assassinated by the Provisional IRA Photo: PA by Andrew Alderson and Kathryn Johnston 9:00AM BST 09 Aug 2009 McMahon, 61, was tracked down by The Sunday Telegraph to his remote home near the Irish border just days before the 30th anniversary of Earl Mountbatten of Burma’s death.

The Queen’s cousin, who was a Second World War hero and the last Viceroy of the British Indian Empire, was assassinated by the Provisional IRA, who planted a bomb in his boat at Mullaghmore, Co Sligo, in the Irish Republic. Along with Lord Mountbatten, 79, those to die in the explosion were Nicholas Knatchbull, 14, one of his twin grandsons, and Paul Maxwell, 15, a local boat boy. Another passenger on the boat, the Dowager Lady Brabourne, 82, died the day after the attack. McMahon now lives with his wife Rose in a hillside bungalow in Lisanisk, close to the market town of Carrickmacross in Co Monaghan. His two sons are grown-up and he is believed to work as a carpenter from his home, which is decorated with some of the landscapes he painted during his 18 years in jail. When approached by this newspaper on Friday, he initially denied being McMahon.

Then he added: “Take yourself off.” Those who struggle to forgive McMahon for his actions include John Maxwell, the father of Paul, the dead boat boy, and Timothy Knatchbull, whose twin brother died in the blast. In less than a month’s time Mr Knatchbull, who was himself seriously injured by the explosion, will publish his book on the events of 30 years ago. John Maxwell concedes that McMahon has served his time, but says the IRA had known that his son would be on the boat but had decided that his innocent life should be sacrificed nevertheless. This weekend Mr Maxwell said of the killer: “I would like some kind of explanation from him in relation to his actions.” Furthermore, he revealed that his son’s killer has snubbed two requests for a meeting. “I’ve made two approaches to McMahon, the first through a priest, who warned me in advance that he thought there wouldn’t be any positive response. And there wasn’t. I have some reservations about meeting him, obviously – it might work out in such a way that I would regret having made the contact. On the other hand, if we met and I could even begin to understand his motivation.

If we could meet on some kind of a human level, a man to man level, it could help me come to terms with it. But that might be very optimistic. McMahon knows the door is open at this end. “There is one question above all others that he would like to ask McMahon: “I think I would put a question to him directly, along the lines of...’If I had killed his son, for whatever reason, how would he feel about it? Would he be capable of putting himself in my shoes, to look at it from my angle?’ I’d be interested to know how he would reply to that.” The terrorist attack three decades ago led to one of the biggest police investigations in Irish history. Two men were charged: McMahon, then 31, and Francis McGirl, 24, a gravedigger. At the time of the explosion, McMahon was 70 miles away, in police custody – by chance he and McGirl had been stopped at a checkpoint after he had laid the explosive. One of the IRA’s most experienced bomb-makers, McMahon had flakes of green paint from Lord Mountbatten’s boat and traces of nitroglycerine on his clothes.

The bomb had been detonated by remote control at 11.39am when the boat, Shadow V, was about 200 yards from the harbour. Because there was insufficient evidence to place McGirl at the fishing village of Mullaghmore, he was acquitted and he died in 1995. McMahon was released from jail in August 1998 as part of the Good Friday peace agreement. McMahon has never publicly discussed his role in the bombing. However, the year before his release from jail, his wife said: “Tommy never talks about Mountbatten, only the boys who died. He does have genuine remorse. Oh God yes.” Mrs McMahon has been politically active: she is a former Sinn Fein councillor and a former Mayor of Carrickmacross. McMahon had served the first 13 years of his life sentence in the IRA wing of Portlaoise. He and ten others, armed with guns and explosives, failed in an attempt to escape in 1985. Three years later, he fired a shot from a Browning pistol smuggled into a holding cell of Dublin’s Four Courts.

But, in 1992, he claimed to have turned his back on the IRA. Three people on the boat survived the attack on Mountbatten including Timothy Knatchbull, 14, – Nicholas’s twin brother – who was left with serious injuries after the blast. At Lord Mountbatten’s memorial service in December 1979, the Prince of Wales lashed out at “the kind of subhuman extremist that blows people up when he feels like it.” Prince Charles had always been close to his great uncle. Timothy Knatchbull’s book, From A Clear Blue Sky, is being published to coincide with the 30th anniversary of the bombing on August 27, 1979. Caroline Gascoigne, the publishing director of Hutchinson, which has bought the rights to the book, said: “Tim’s motivation for writing it was a personal journey of healing and reconciliation, and also of finding out what happened.

Part of the book is an anatomy of an assassination and it’s almost like a detective story as he assembles who was doing what and where.” The new September issues of Tatler magazine reveals that Timothy Knatchbull, who was blinded in one eye by the blast, found solace after his brother’s death by forging a friendship with a man who, like him, had suffered the loss of his identical twin brother. Prince Charles visits scene where Lord Mountbatten was killed by the IRA | World news | The Guardian Ireland Prince Charles visits scene where Lord Mountbatten was killed by the IRA Charles gives deeply personal speech at Sligo village on Ireland’s west coast where 36 years ago his great-uncle Lord Louis Mountbatten was blown up Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall visit the village of Mullaghmore, where his great uncle was killed in an IRA bomb attack in 1979.

Photograph: Getty Images Wednesday 20 May 2015 14.47 EDT Last modified on Tuesday 19 July 2016 09.38 EDT Close This article is 1 year old Of recent public gestures on Anglo-Irish reconciliation, the pilgrimage of remembrance by the Prince of Wales to Mullaghmore was undoubtedly the most personal. Here he stood, gazing out across the Atlantic from the small Sligo village on Ireland’s west coast, where 36 years ago his beloved great-uncle, Lord Louis Mountbatten, 79, and three others were blown up by the Provisional IRA while lobster fishing. Surrounding him was a small knot of well wishers and villagers for whom memories were also painful and vivid. “It’s been a long time,” Charles told one, of his long wait to visit the spot.

“I never thought it would happen.” The Mountbatten family holidayed here at Classiebawn Castle every summer, drawn by the wild, stark beauty of granite cliffs, huge sky and powerful waves, which were flecked red with blood and black with engine oil after the fishing boat Shadow V exploded a few hundred yards from the harbour on 27 August 1979. At the Pier Head hotel, where on that day the dead and injured were brought on makeshift stretchers, local people gathered to greet Charles and his wife the Duchess of Cornwall. Among them was Peter McHugh, who helped pull the bodies from the sea and who described to Charles the events of that day. “I didn’t want to be too sombre. I just gave him the briefest outline of what happened,” he said. Timothy Knatchbull, Mountbatten’s grandson who was badly injured in the blast, and whose 14-year-old identical twin Nicky died, guided Charles’s gaze out to where the boat had set off on its fateful trip that morning. Knatchbull has since been vocal in applauding the reconciliation process, having found his own path to “forgiveness and peace”.

Another child victim was Paul Maxwell, 15, a schoolboy on holiday from Enniskillen earning pocket money as a boat hand, whose father, John, a teacher, had to steel himself to attend the royal visit, but did so, saying it was the right thing to do. For Paul’s mother, Mary Hornsey, it was her first time in Mullaghmore since the day of her son’s death, but she had accepted the invitation to meet the prince on a visit she said was “extending the hand of forgiveness”. Mountbatten’s daughter, Patricia Brabourne, and his son-in-law, John, were severely injured in the blast, and the Dowager Lady Brabourne, 83, John Brabourne’s mother, died of injuries the next day. Richard Wood-Martin, who with his wife Elizabeth was in a boat behind Mountbatten’s, recalled how they pulled Timothy Knatchbull from the sea: “There was a puff of smoke, a loud bang, a shower of bits of timber and the boat was gone. One person was blown to the left and it was Timothy. I managed to pull him into the boat.

He was face-down in the water.” As the prince’s cavalcade drove up to the castle, it slowed down beside a small cross atop the cliff, directly in line with the spot where the bomb went off. Pinterest Prince Charles visits Sligo Earlier, addressing guests at an arts centre in Sligo, he spoke of his grief. “I could not imagine how we would come to terms with the anguish of such a deep loss since, for me, Lord Mountbatten represented the grandfather I never had.” In a deeply personal speech, he added: “Through this dreadful experience, though, I now understand in a profound way the agonies borne by so many others in these islands, of whatever faith, denomination or political tradition.” Addressing the past turbulent history between Britain and Ireland , he said : “We need no longer be victims of our difficult history with each other. Without glossing over the pain of the past, we can, I believe, integrate our history and memory in order to reap their subtle harvest of possibility. Imagination, after all, is the mother of possibility.

Let us, then, endeavour to become the subjects of our history and not its prisoners.” That beautiful summer day, which saw Mullaghmore become synonymous with terror, turned into one of the bloodiest of the Troubles. Just hours after the boat bomb was remotely detonated, the IRA’s “Warrenpoint ambush” in Co Down, Northern Ireland , claimed the lives of 18 soldiers, the British Army’s greatest loss of life in a single incident during the conflict. Graffiti referencing Bloody Sunday later appeared in Belfast saying: “13 dead but not forgotten – we got 18 and Mountbatten”. Security was tight for the couple’s four-day visit, which also takes in Northern Ireland. The prince holds the honorary rank of colonel-in-chief of the Parachute Regiment, whose soldiers shot dead 14 people – 13 killed outright and another dying months later from injuries – at a civil right march in Derry on Bloody Sunday in 1972. Pinterest Prince Charles meets people in Mullaghmore, County Sligo. Photograph: Paul Mcerlane/EPA Long years of mediation, negotiation and diplomatic brokering have gradually transformed Anglo-Irish relations.

As the pre-eminent symbol of British rule in Ulster, the Queen’s historic handshake at the Lyric theatre in Belfast in 2012 with former IRA commander Martin McGuinness, Sinn Féin’s deputy first minister of Northern Ireland, and her visit to Dublin the previous year, were momentous. The prince continued the theme to meet with the Sinn Féin leader, Gerry Adams, and share a public handshake weighted with political symbolism. While this visit may have provided catharsis, for the prince, for the Maxwells and for those others affected by the bombing, not everyone agreed. Author Joe McGowanm a Mullaghmore resident, believed it should have been a private pilgrimage. “It just resurrects the past again and the notoriety associated with Mullaghmore. We get on with our lives here. It’s not an everyday topic of conversation. Of course everybody knows it happened. Nobody disliked Mountbatten here,” he said. The visit saw the village “being brought back to the grave again,” he said. And the media circus just reopened wounds. “We welcome Charles and Camilla, of course. But if it was private it would have been better,” he said.

Mountbatten killed by IRA - Aug 27, 1979 - HISTORY.com Mountbatten killed by IRA Publisher A+E Networks On August 27, 1979, Lord Louis Mountbatten is killed when Irish Republican Army (IRA) terrorists detonate a 50-pound bomb hidden on his fishing vessel Shadow V. Mountbatten, a war hero, elder statesman, and second cousin of Queen Elizabeth II, was spending the day with his family in Donegal Bay off Ireland’s northwest coast when the bomb exploded. Three others were killed in the attack, including Mountbatten’s 14-year-old grandson, Nicholas. Later that day, an IRA bombing attack on land killed 18 British paratroopers in County Down, Northern Ireland. The assassination of Mountbatten was the first blow struck against the British royal family by the IRA during its long terrorist campaign to drive the British out of Northern Ireland and unite it with the Republic of Ireland to the south. The attack hardened the hearts of many Brits against the IRA and convinced Margaret Thatcher’s government to take a hard-line stance against the terrorist organization.

Louis Mountbatten, the son of Prince Louis of Battenberg and a great-grandson of Queen Victoria I, entered the Royal Navy in 1913, when he was in his early teens. He saw service during World War I and at the outbreak of World War II was commander of the 5th destroyer flotilla. His destroyer, the HMS Kelly, was sunk off Crete early in the war. In 1941, he commanded an aircraft carrier, and in 1942 he was named chief of combined operations. From this position, he was appointed supreme Allied commander for Southeast Asia in 1943 and successfully conducted the campaign against Japan that led to the recapture of Burma. In 1947, he was appointed the last viceroy of India, and he conducted the negotiations that led to independence for India and Pakistan later that year. He held various high naval posts in the 1950s and served as chief of the United Kingdom Defense Staff and chairman of the Chiefs of Staff Committee. Meanwhile, he was made Viscount Mountbatten of Burma and a first earl. He was the uncle of Philip Mountbatten and introduced Philip to the future Queen Elizabeth.

He later encouraged the marriage of the two distant cousins and became godfather and mentor to their first born, Charles, Prince of Wales. Made governor and then lord lieutenant of the Isle of Wight in his retirement, Lord Mountbatten was a respected and beloved member of the royal family. His assassination on August 27, 1979, was perhaps the most shocking of all horrors inflicted by the IRA against the United Kingdom. In addition to his grandson Nicholas, 15-year-old boat hand Paul Maxwell was killed in the attack; the Dowager Lady Brabourne, Nicholas’ grandmother, was also fatally injured. Mountbatten’s grandson Timothy–Nicholas’ twin–was injured; as was his daughter, Lady Brabourne; and the twins’ father, Lord Brabourne. Lord Mountbatten was 79. The IRA immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, saying it detonated the bomb by remote control from the coast. It also took responsibility for the same-day bombing attack against British troops in County Down, which claimed 18 lives. IRA member Thomas McMahon was later arrested and convicted of preparing and planting the bomb that destroyed Mountbatten’s boat.

A near-legend in the IRA, he was a leader of the IRA’s notorious South Armagh Brigade, which killed more than 100 British soldiers. He was one of the first IRA members to be sent to Libya to train with detonators and timing devices and was an expert in explosives. Authorities believe the Mountbatten assassination was the work of many people, but McMahon was the only individual convicted. Sentenced to life in prison, he was released in 1998 along with other IRA and Unionist terrorists under a controversial provision of the Good Friday Agreement, Northern Ireland’s peace deal. McMahon claimed he had turned his back on the IRA and was becoming a carpenter.

Related Videos Prince Charles remembers how Lord Mountbatten was killed by the IRA | Daily Mail Online Next Charles makes vigil to the spot where Mountbatten was murdered: Poignant moment survivor tells Prince how IRA boat blast killed his twin brother and both his grandparents Royal visited Mullaghmore, the scene of the IRA bomb atrocity which killed his great-uncle Lord Mountbatten in 1979 He was led around picturesque village by Mountbatten's grandson Timothy Knatchbull, whose twin was also killed Heir to the throne also met others affected by IRA attack, as well as locals involved in huge rescue effort after blast Visit came after a moving speech during which Charles spoke of 'deep loss' over beloved relative's assassination What happened to Lord Mountbatten? - ITV News 19 May 2015 at 8:05am What happened to Lord Mountbatten? Lord Louis Mountbatten was the great-uncle of Prince Charles. Lord Mountbatten was one of the most influential figures in young Prince Charles' life.

Credit: PA The British statesman and naval officer was killed on August 27, 1979, while holidaying at his Irish summer home, Classiebawn Castle in Mullaghmore, County Sligo. Police had warned Mountbatten of security threats but he went lobster-potting in his 30ft fishing boat, the Shadow V. A bomb, slipped onto the unmanned boat the night before, was detonated when the boat was about 600 metres from shore. The boat was destroyed in the blast but 79-year-old Mountbatten, whose legs were almost blown off, was pulled alive from the water. However, he died before rescuers could bring him to shore. Police frogmen search the scene of the blast. Credit: PA Three others also died in the atrocity; his 14-year-old grandson Nicholas Knatchbull, Paul Maxwell, a 15-year-old crew member, and the Dowager Lady Brabourne, the mother-in-law of Mountbatten's daughter, Lady Brabourne. Lord and Lady Brabourne, Nicholas Knatchbull's mother and father, survived the blast, along with his twin brother Timothy, but were seriously injured.

Lord and Lady Brabourne (second left and second right) and son Timothy (right) survived the blast. Credit: PA The IRA later claimed responsibility for the deaths. IRA member Thomas McMahon, who was convicted for his part in the bombing, spent 19 years in prison before being freed in 1998 under the Good Friday Agreement. On the same day of the bombing, the IRA also ambushed and killed 18 British soldiers in what became known as the Warrenpoint ambush. Thomas McMahon spent 19 years in prison for killing Lord Mountbatten. Credit: PA Prince Charles on Lord Mountbatten's murder by the IRA - BBC News BBC News Media playback is unsupported on your device Prince Charles on Lord Mountbatten's murder by the IRA 20 May 2015 Last updated at 13:26 BST Prince Charles has spoken about the murder of his great-uncle, Lord Mountbatten, Lady Brabourne, his godson Nicholas Knatchbull and 15-year-old Paul Maxwell, in an IRA bomb attack in 1979.

He said "it seemed as if the foundations of all we held dear in life had been torn apart irreparably", but it made him "understand the agonies borne by so many others in these islands". Prince Charles and his wife, the Duchess of Cornwall, are due to visit the village of Mullaghmore in County Sligo, where Lord Mountbatten was murdered. The Prince of Wales will be the first senior member of the Royal Family to visit the scene of the attack. Prince Charles to visit scene of Lord Mountbatten's murder - BBC News BBC News Prince Charles to visit scene of Lord Mountbatten's murder 20 May 2015 Read more about sharing. Close share panel Media caption"It seemed as if the foundations of all we held dear in life had been torn apart irreparably" - Prince Charles Prince Charles has said the 1979 IRA murder of Lord Mountbatten gave him a profound understanding of how people affected by the Troubles suffered. The prince will later visit the County Sligo village of Mullaghmore where his great-uncle and three others died. "I look forward to seeing at last the place that he so loved, and to meeting its inhabitants," he said.

Prince Charles spoke of the compassion shown by people in the area after Lord Mountbatten was killed. "Their loving kindness has done much to aid the healing process," he told a civic reception. 'Deep loss' The prince will visit the scene of the IRA explosion on the second day of his four-day visit to the island of Ireland, north and south. The IRA detonated a bomb on a fishing boat at Mullaghmore on 27 August 1979, killing Lord Mountbatten, his 14-year-old grandson, Nicholas Knatchbull, and 15-year-old Paul Maxwell. The Dowager Lady Brabourne died the day after the attack. On the same day, 18 British soldiers were killed as two booby-trap bombs exploded beside Narrow Water Castle, near Warrenpoint in County Down. Speaking ahead of his visit to Mullaghmore, the prince told a civic reception in Sligo: "At the time I could not imagine how we could come to terms with the anguish of such a deep loss, since for me Lord Mountbatten represented the grandfather I never had. "It seemed as if the foundations of all that we held dear in life had been torn apart irreparably.

"Through this experience, I now understand in a profound way the agonies borne by so many others in these islands, of whatever faith, denomination or political tradition." Image copyright PA Image caption Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas Mountbatten was known to family and close friends as Dickie Who was Lord Mountbatten? Louis Mountbatten, Earl Mountbatten of Burma, has been described as uncle and godfather to the Prince of Wales. In fact he was neither. Lord Mountbatten was Prince Charles's great-uncle, through his father. He was also second cousin once removed to the Queen. His mother was one of the prince's godparents. As well as his close links to the Royal Family, Lord Mountbatten was a British statesman. He served as the last Viceroy of India and was appointed as the First Sea Lord and Chief of the Defence Staff. He would spend his summers at Classiebawn castle, overlooking Mullaghmore in County Sligo, a family house of his wife Edwina. The prince said the island of Ireland had "more than its fair share of turbulence and troubles", and "those directly affected don't easily forget the pain".

"Recent years have shown us though that healing is possible, even when the heartache continues," he said. Prince Charles spoke of the importance of reconciliation. "I'm only too deeply aware of the long history of suffering which Ireland has endured, not just in recent decades but over the course of its history," he said. "It is a history which I know has caused much pain and much resentment, in a world of imperfect human beings, where it is always too easy to overgeneralise and to attribute blame. "At the end of the day however, we should never forget that our acquaintance has been long, and we can turn that knowing into something new and creative. "We need no longer be victims of our difficult history with each other." Image copyright other Image caption Paul Maxwell was a schoolboy who was working for Lord Mountbatten During his visit to Mullaghmore, Prince Charles is expected to meet the mother of Paul Maxwell from Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, who had been working on Lord Mountbatten's fishing vessel. Mary Hornsey said the royal visit was "extending the hand of forgiveness".

Ms Hornsey has not returned to the scene of her son's death since saying "goodbye" to Mullaghmore in 1979 but has decided to accept an invitation to meet Prince Charles on Wednesday. "I think it is going to be very emotional for me, but I know it has to be done," she told BBC Radio Ulster. "It is going to be a time of reconciliation and I hope that good will come of it." 'Making a statement' Ms Hornsey said she felt she had "some kind of bond" with the prince as they had both lost loved ones in the same attack. "I feel that he is making a statement in coming," she said. "He is extending the hand of friendship and forgiveness, and I think that is very important. Every little step counts, and when we get more steps it will be even better." Media captionMary Hornsey: "Prince Charles is extending the hand of friendship" Recalling her son's murder, Ms Hornsey said it was a "beautiful summer morning" and she and her husband were sitting outside their holiday cottage when the bomb exploded. "Suddenly there was this almighty bang.

I've never heard anything quite like it in my life, and I knew immediately Paul was dead," Ms Hornsey said. "My husband at the time said: 'Don't be so silly' and he decided to go down to the harbour. He thought perhaps there might have been a gas leak at the castle or something like that. He went down and of course, that great tragedy unfolded." 'Awful price' She added: "Just knowing he would never be here again - that was awful, so hard." Ms Hornsey said she constantly thinks about her lost son, the type of man he would have become and how he would have looked after her as she got older. "I do think that I have become a stronger person because of the awful tragedy, but I have paid an awful price for that," she added. The prince's visit to Mullaghmore comes a day after he shook hands with the Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams in Galway. 'Significance' Ms Hornsey described the prince's meeting with Mr Adams as "a very good thing". Image copyright AFP Image caption Prince Charles met Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams in Galway General Sir Mike Jackson served with the Parachute Regiment, of which Prince Charles is Colonel-in-Chief.

"It would be hard I think to overstate the significance of such a meeting," he said. "I listened very carefully to Prince Charles' words and they were very moving. And we should remember also it follows on from the Queen's extraordinary state visit to the Republic [of Ireland]." When asked on BBC's Talkback programme would he be prepared to follow the example of the Prime Minister David Cameron who apologised in parliament for the actions of British paratroopers on Bloody Sunday, Mr Jackson said although he associated himself with what Mr Cameron had said, he said he would fall short of using the word sorry himself. Tragedies Fourteen civilians died in 1972 after paratroopers opened fire on crowds during a civil rights demonstration. Sir Mike said there had been tragedies experienced by both sides during Northern Ireland's Troubles and singled out the killing of 18 British soldiers when two booby-trap bombs exploded beside Narrow Water Castle, near Warrenpoint in County Down. The attack happened on the same day as the killing of Lord Mountbatten in Mullaghmore. Speaking after his handshake with Prince Charles, the Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams said it was "obviously was a big thing for him to do and a big thing for us to do".

After their private meeting, Mr Adams said Prince Charles felt able to empathise with other people who had suffered during the 40 years of violence on the island of Ireland. "I think it was good that he's come here and I think it's good that he has come to Mullaghmore, and I think it's good that we met," he said. Image caption The royal couple visited the grave of Irish poet WB Yeats Image caption Prince Charles met former Irish President Mary McAleese at a church service on Wednesday Image caption Bethany McLoughlin was part of a choir that sang for Prince Charles in County Sligo On the second day of the royal couple's visit to the island of Ireland, they have also been attending a service of peace and reconciliation at St Columba's Church in Drumcliffe, where they visited the grave of Irish poet WB Yeats. Among a choir of secondary school students performing at the ceremony was Bethany McLoughlin, whose grandfather Gerard McKinney was one of 13 people killed by paratroopers in Londonderry during a civil rights march on Bloody Sunday in January 1972. The 17-year-old Ursuline Convent pupil was chosen by coincidence to join singers from local schools.

Her father Gerard McLoughlin said he believed it was an opportunity for further reconciliation. After the service, Prince Charles planted a tree at the church in memory of Lord Mountbatten. The prince and the duchess will end the second day of their visit with some horseracing at the Sligo Races. Image copyright British Embassy Dublin Image caption The royal couple dined with Irish President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina on Tuesday evening Prince Charles will meet team of workers that tried to save Lord Mountbatten | Daily Mail Online comments Prince Charles will have an emotional meeting this week with those who helped with the rescue attempt on the day his great-uncle, Lord Mountbatten, was murdered by the IRA. He is to visit Mullaghmore in County Sligo, north-western Ireland, to meet members of the public and emergency services personnel who came to the earl’s aid following the bombing of his fishing boat in 1979. Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall will embark on a two-day tour of Ireland – followed by a visit to Northern Ireland – on Tuesday as part of continuing ‘peace and reconciliation’ efforts.

Scroll down for video Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall will embark on a two-day tour of Ireland – followed by a visit to Northern Ireland – on Tuesday as part of continuing ‘peace and reconciliation’ efforts On Wednesday the royal couple will visit Mullaghmore, where Lord Mountbatten – the Queen’s cousin and one of the most influential figures in Charles’s life – was killed. The 79-year-old peer, who had a castle in the picturesque fishing village, was leaving the harbour aboard Shadow V when a bomb was detonated remotely. RELATED ARTICLES Share this article Share The blast blew the boat ‘to smithereens’. Fishermen pulled Lord Mountbatten out of the water, but his legs had been almost completely severed and he died shortly afterwards. One of the earl’s twin grandsons, Nicholas Knatchbull, 14, also died in the explosion, along with local boat boy Paul Maxwell, 15. Another passenger on the boat, the Dowager Lady Brabourne, 82 – Lord Mountbatten’s daughter’s mother-in-law – died the day after the attack.

Prince Charles will have an emotional meeting this week with those who helped with the rescue attempt on the day his great-uncle, Lord Mountbatten (pictured), was murdered by the IRA The IRA admitted responsibility, saying: ‘This operation is one of the discriminate ways we can bring to the attention of the English people the continuing occupation of our country.’ Local man Thomas McMahon, one of the IRA’s most experienced bomb-makers, was found guilty of the murders but released under the Good Friday Agreement. The Mail understands the prince and the Duchess will meet those who helped with the rescue attempt. A source said: ‘It is sure to be an emotional moment for the prince.’ The visit will be held amid strict security. Just last week six republican dissidents were arrested – and two pipe bombs and a pistol seized – in raids said to be connected to the official visit. IRISH AUTHORITIES ACCUSED OF FAILING TO PURSUE MURDERERS The Irish authorities were yesterday accused of failing to pursue Lord Mountbatten’s IRA murderers. On the eve of Prince Charles’s visit, one senior Westminster figure said the historic trip highlights the failure to bring those responsible to justice. There are fears they may have escaped prosecution under an amnesty secretly agreed as part of the peace process.

Among them is the shadowy ‘trigger man’ who detonated the boat bomb. The bomb-maker, Thomas McMahon, who was caught at a police checkpoint, served 18 years in prison before being released under the 1998 Good Friday Agreement. He is the only man to have been prosecuted for the atrocity. Kate Hoey, the former Labour minister and a member of the Northern Ireland affairs select committee, said: ‘Only one man has ever been convicted for the murder … We know there were accomplices.’ Prince Charles first visited the Republic of Ireland in 1995 but has never visited Sligo. Buckingham Palace also announced further details yesterday of a rare state visit by the Queen and Prince Philip to Germany in June. One of the most poignant moments will be a visit to the Bergen-Belsen memorial site. They will also attend a state banquet and a garden party in their honour.

BBC ON THIS DAY | 27 | 1979: Mountbatten and Warrenpoint massacres About This Site | Text Only 1979: Mountbatten and Warrenpoint massacres Lord Louis Mountbatten, the Queen's cousin and a great-grandson of Queen Victoria, was killed in his boat by an IRA bomb. Just hours earlier, 18 soldiers were blown up in two booby-trap bomb explosions near Warrenpoint, close to the border with the Irish Republic. The IRA issued a statement that read: "This operation is one of the discriminate ways we can bring to the attention of the English people the continuing occupation of our country." Your memories: We were in work when the news came on and we heard about those poor soldiers and then a few hours later about Lord Mountbatten. The workplace came to a standstill and no-one spoke as we were all in shock, as the factory was mixed religions. Most of the workers went home - a sad day for all and one we never forget. Laura, Northern Ireland I can remember the shock in the part of Co Cork where I live.

It's worth recording that a memorial service for Lord Mountbatten, his grandson and the local boy was held in the small Church of Ireland church in Cappoquin, Co Waterford. Those of us who attended felt somewhat at risk but felt it important to distance ourselves from militant republicans. There may have been other similar services in the Irish Republic. Jane Annesley, Ireland I remember, as a young lad, being out with my mother in East Belfast. We were shopping for my new school uniform and news reached us about the atrocities that had taken place in Mullaghmore and Warrenpoint. Many years later, as an adult, I travelled to the spot in Warrenpoint where the 18 soldiers were killed. It is such a beautiful part of Ireland, overlooking Carlingford Lough and the hills of the Irish Republic. Such a tragedy that this peaceful place should witness the evil deeds of terrorists. Ian Milligan, UK I was a nurse on duty in Daisy Hill Hospital on the day of this bombing, the sights and memories of which haunt me to this day. Please tell me what this bombing achieved other than sorrow, nightmares and hardship to all involved Leontia, Northern Ireland I feel numb and hollow inside even thinking of it.

The loss of so many beautiful people's lives is harrowing and at times unbelievable. My brother, who was Regimental Sergeant Major in the Marines, after the bombing he placed a pencil sketch of Narrow Water (the last of my grandfather's artistic works) in the sergeants' mess at the Ballykelly army base in memorial to those who died that day. Regards to all who read this. Please tell me what this bombing achieved other than sorrow, nightmares and hardship to all involved. Leontia, Northern Ireland I was nine years old at the time and lived in Bessbrook, the village where the helicopter that was caught up in the second Warrenpoint bomb took off from. We lived opposite a heavily fortified police station and the soldiers regularly crouched in the porch of our front door. We heard about the Warrenpoint bomb while Dad and my aunts were out for the day. When they returned everyone was upset. They had heard the news in town and my aunt was quite nervous. Warrenpoint was about 15 miles away. We turned the telly on in case there were reports of Warrenpoint on the news and that was when we heard of the Mountbatten bomb.

My aunt had been reassured by us before she came [back from London] that the Troubles weren't as bad as it had been reported on the English news. I remember questioning if we had told her the truth. Eamon Quinn, Northern Ireland I well remember the cowardly act perpetrated by men without honour 25 years ago. At that time, I was a tour guide in Ibiza, Spain, working for the Swedish tour operator Vingresor which had just started working in the UK bringing British tourists to this Mediterranean island. I learnt of the misdeed on my way to assist some of them on a location on its east coast. The air was warm and humid, I could sense the particular smell of pine trees, and I shook my head in disbelief: is that bravery - to kill an old man and his teen grandson, and even more people? Shame and disgrace, that's what it was! Anders Person, Sweden I was living in Huntingdon, Cambridgeshire when I heard the news on BBC Radio 4. I was touched by the Prayer for the Day. A local clergyman said St Francis of Assisi's prayer for peace. The events of the day dampened my 32nd birthday party.

It was a sad day. Michael Jacobsen, US I remember it as if it were yesterday. I was a ten-year -old Catholic school boy over here in the "colonies", listening to a visiting priest from Belfast tell us tales of Irish Catholics being "knee-capped, maimed and murdered" for their faith by the English. "They got 13 not forgotten, we got 10 and Mountbatten!" It's the 21st century. Give Ireland back to the Irish. You're just as bad as the Yanks. Daniel Robertson, Canada I grew up in Sligo and I remember going to Mullaghmore to attend a prayer service for him. I can remember hundreds of people in attendance. I remember also the attack in Warrenpoint and the disgust that most people in Ireland felt at the time. At least now we have moved forward, I don't think we can ever go back to those days again. Mark Hamilton, US Although this man was very much disliked by Canadians, we mourned his loss by sharing the grief of members of the Royal Family. The barbarity of his murder was sickening and disgusting to say the least.

His incompetence in the planning and direction of the Dieppe raid on 19 August, 1942 is hard to forget. Or was it something other than incompetence? Some say we were betrayed, so that the failure of the raid, would convince our American and Russian allies that a second front in 1943 was impossible. Don Madge, Canada I was shocked and saddened to see the comments of my fellow Canadians. Lord Mountbatten was not disliked in Canada and it is offensive to suggest that he purposefully sacrificed Canadians at Dieppe in order to make a point to the Soviets and the Americans. Further, it is revolting to think that a purported man of God would welcome the death of anyone, particuarly two elderly non-combatants and a pair of children. There was nothing glorious or justified about this killing and it should be viewed for what it was - the appalling act of a misguided coward. Jonathan Hillson, Canada I'm from nearby Sligo town and was only four years old at the time. I didn't have a clue what was going on but remember myself and the whole family being bundled into the car and driven off to Mullaghmore the day it happened to see what was going on.

I think everybody from the surrounding 100 miles was there too - there were traffic jams for miles and I remember loads of very serious, worried-looking policemen driving traffic around. Everybody in my area was shocked because, although we are quite near the border, nothing of this magnitude had ever happened before. To this day I still visit Mullaghmore and go down to look at Classiebawn - a beautiful fairytale-type castle and out on the sea and the rocks where it happened. I don't think it will ever be forgotten by the people of Sligo. Jay, Ireland I was a police constable at that time and that evening was called to some drunks in the park. One of them was Irish and shouted: "The boys sorted you English today." Before I could do anything one of the others punched him and floored him. When I looked the one who had struck the blow was in tears. He muttered: "He was a great man." I thought enough was enough and left. Later that week I had to escort the army burial party when they came to the town on their tour round the country to bury their dead.

To see and hear the parents of the dead soldier and to see the effect it was having on the burial party was something I have never forgotten. Paul, UK

Question: In what year was Lord Mountbatten murdered
Answer: 1979